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Monday, May 24, 2010

Recent research shows that microwave oven-cooked food suffers severe molecular damage. When eaten, it causes abnormal changes in human blood and immune systems. Not surprisingly, the public has been denied details on these significant health dangers.

Back in May of 1989, after Tom Valentine first moved to St Paul,Minnesota, he heard on the car radio a short announcement that bolted him upright in the driver's seat. The announcement was sponsored by Young Families, the Minnesota Extension Service of the University of Minnesota:"Although microwaves heat food quickly, they are not recommended forheating a baby's bottle," the announcement said. The bottle may seem coolto the touch, but the liquid inside may become extremely hot and couldburn the baby's mouth and throat. Also, the buildup of steam in a closedcontainer such as a baby's bottle could cause it to explode. "Heating thebottle in a microwave can cause slight changes in the milk. In infantformulas, there may be a loss of some vitamins. In expressed breast milk,some protective properties may be destroyed." The report went on."Warming a bottle by holding it under tap water or by setting it in abowl of warm water, then testing it on your wrist before feeding, maytake a few minutes longer, but it is much safer."Valentine asked himself: If an established institution like theUniversity of Minnesota can warn about the loss of particular nutrientqualities in microwaved baby formula or mother's milk, then somebody mustknow something about microwaving they are not telling everybody.

A LAWSUITIn early 1991, word leaked out about a lawsuit in Oklahoma. A woman namedNorma Levitt had hip surgery, only to be killed by a simple bloodtransfusion when a nurse "warmed the blood for the transfusion in amicrowave oven"!Logic suggests that if heating or cooking is all there is to it, then itdoesn't matter what mode of heating technology one uses. However, it isquite apparent that there is more to 'heating' with microwaves than we'vebeen led to believe.Blood for transfusions is routinely warmed-but not in microwave ovens! Inthe case of Mrs. Levitt, the microwaving altered the blood and it killedher.Does it not therefore follow that this form of heating does, indeed, do'something different' to the substances being heated? Is it not prudentto determine what that 'something different' might do?A funny thing happened on the way to the bank with all that microwaveoven revenue: nobody thought about the obvious. Only 'health nuts' whoare constantly aware of the value of quality nutrition discerned aproblem with the widespread 'denaturing' of our food. Enter Hans Hertel.

HANS HERTELIn the tiny town of Wattenwil, near Basel in Switzerland, there lives ascientist who is alarmed at the lack of purity and naturalness in themany pursuits of modern mankind. He worked as a food scientist forseveral years with one of the many major Swiss food companies that dobusiness on a global scale. A few years ago, he was fired from his jobfor questioning procedures in processing food because they denatured it."The world needs our help," Hans Hertel told Tom Valentine as they shareda fine meal at a resort hotel in Todtmoss, Germany."We, the scientists, carry the main responsibility for the presentunacceptable conditions. It is therefore our job to correct the situationand bring the remedy to the world. I am striving to bring man andtechniques back into harmony with nature. We can have wonderfultechnologies without violating nature."Hans is an intense man, driven by personal knowledge of violations ofnature by corporate man and his state-supported monopolies in science,technology and education. At the same time, as the two talked, hisintensity shattered into a warm smile and he spoke of the way thingscould be if mankind's immense talent were to work with nature and notagainst her.Hans Hertel is the first scientist to conceive of and carry out a qualitystudy on the effects of microwaved nutrients on the blood and physiologyof human beings. This small but well-controlled study pointed the firmfinger at a degenerative force of microwave ovens and the food producedin them. The conclusion was clear: microwave cooking changed thenutrients so that changes took place in the participants' blood; thesewere not healthy changes but were changes that could cause deteriorationin the human systems.Working with Bernard H. Blanc of the Swiss Federal Institute ofTechnology and the University Institute for Biochemistry, Hertel not onlyconceived of the study and carried it out, he was one of eightparticipants."To control as many variables as possible, we selected eight individualswho were strict macrobiotic diet participants from the MacrobioticInstitute at Kientel, Switzerland, " Hertel explained. "We were all housedin the same hotel environment for eight weeks. There was no smoking, noalcohol and no sex."One can readily see that this protocol makes sense. After all, how couldyou tell about subtle changes in a human's blood from eating microwavedfood if smoking, booze, junk food, pollution, pesticides, hormones,antibiotics and everything else in the common environment were alsopresent?"We had one American, one Canadian and six Europeans in the group. I wasthe oldest at 64 years, the others were in their 20s and 30s," Herteladded.Valentine published the results of this study in Search for Health in theSpring of 1992. But the follow-up information is available only in alater edition, and also in Acres, USA.In intervals of two to five days, the volunteers in the study receivedone of the food variants on an empty stomach. The food variants were: rawmilk from a biofarm (no. 1); the same milk conventionally cooked (no. 2);pasteurised milk from Intermilk Berne (no. 3); the same raw milk cookedin a microwave oven (no. 4); raw vegetables from an organic farm (no. 5);the same vegetables cooked conventionally (no. 6); the same vegetablesfrozen and defrosted in the microwave oven (no. 7); and the samevegetables cooked in the microwave oven (no. 8). The overall experimenthad some of the earmarks of the Pottenger cat studies, except that nowhuman beings were test objects, the experiment's time-frame was shorter,and a new heat form was tested.Once the volunteers were isolated at the resort hotel, the test began.Blood samples were taken from every volunteer immediately before eating.Then blood samples were taken at defined intervals after eating from theabove-numbered milk or vegetable preparations.Significant changes were discovered in the blood of the volunteers whoconsumed foods cooked in the microwave oven. These changes included adecrease in all haemoglobin values and cholesterol values, especially theHDL (good cholesterol) and LDL (bad cholesterol) values and ratio.Lymphocytes (white blood cells) showed a more distinct short-termdecrease following the intake of microwaved food than after the intake ofall the other variants. Each of these indicators point in a directionaway from robust health and toward degeneration. Additionally, there wasa highly significant association between the amount of microwave energyin the test foods and the luminous power of luminescent bacteria exposedto serum from test persons who ate that food. This led Hertel to theconclusion that such technically derived energies may, indeed, be passedalong to man inductively via consumption of microwaved food."This process is based on physical principles and has already beenconfirmed in the literature," Hertel explained. The apparent additionalenergy exhibited by the luminescent bacteria was merely extraconfirmation."There is extensive scientific literature concerning the hazardouseffects of direct microwave radiation on living systems," Hertelcontinued. "It is astonishing, therefore, to realise how little efforthas been made to replace this detrimental technique of microwaves withtechnology more in accordance with nature."Technically produced microwaves are based on the principle ofalternating current. Atoms, molecules and cells hit by this hardelectromagnetic radiation are forced to reverse polarity 1 to 100 billiontimes a second. There are no atoms, molecules or cells of any organicsystem able to withstand such a violent, destructive power for anyextended period of time, not even in the low energy range of milliwatts."Of all the natural substances -- which are polar -- the oxygen of watermolecules reacts most sensitively. This is how microwave cooking heat isgenerated-friction from this violence in water molecules. Structures ofmolecules are torn apart, molecules are forcefully deformed (calledstructural isomerism) and thus become impaired in quality.

HEATING FOOD"This is contrary to conventional heating of food, in which heattransfers convectionally from without to within. Cooking by microwavesbegins within the cells and molecules where water is present and wherethe energy is transformed into frictional heat."The question naturally arises: What about microwaves from the sun? Aren'tthey harmful?Hertel responded: "The microwaves from the Sun are based on principles ofpulsed direct current. These rays create no frictional heat in organicsubstance."In addition to violent frictional heat effects (called thermic effects),there are also athermic effects which have hardly ever been taken intoaccount, Hertel added."These athermic effects are not presently measurable, but they can alsodeform the structures of molecules and have qualitative consequences. Forexample, the weakening of cell membranes by microwaves is used in thefield of gene altering technology. Because of the force involved, thecells are actually broken, thereby neutralising the electricalpotentials-the very life of the cells-between the outer and inner sidesof the cell membranes. Impaired cells become easy prey for viruses, fungiand other micro-organisms. The natural repair mechanisms are suppressed,and cells are forced to adapt to a state of energy emergency: they switchfrom aerobic to anaerobic respiration. Instead of water and carbondioxide, hydrogen peroxide and carbon monoxide are produced."It has long been pointed out in the literature that any reversal ofhealthy cell processes may occur because of a number of reasons, and ourcells then revert from a "robust oxidation" to an unhealthy"fermentation" .The same violent friction and athermic deformations that can occur in ourbodies when we are subjected to radar or microwaves, happens to themolecules in the food cooked in a microwave oven. In fact, when anyonemicrowaves food, the oven exerts a power input of about 1,000 watts ormore. This radiation results in destruction and deformation of moleculesof food, and in the formation of new compounds (called radiolyticcompounds) unknown to man and nature.Today's established science and technology argues forcefully thatmicrowaved food and irradiated foods do not have any significantly higher"radiolytic compounds" than do broiled, baked or other conventionallycooked foods-but microwaving does produce more of these critters.Curiously, neither established science nor our ever-protective governmenthas conducted tests-on the blood of the eaters-of the effects of eatingvarious kinds of cooked foods. Hertel and his group did test it, and theindication is clear that something is amiss and that larger studiesshould be funded. The apparently toxic effects of microwave cooking isanother in a long list of unnatural additives in our daily diets.However, the establishment has not taken kindly to this work."The first drawing of blood samples took place on an empty stomach at7.45 each morning," Hertel explained. "The second drawing of blood tookplace 15 minutes after the food intake. The third drawing was two hourslater.">From each sample, 50 millilitres of blood was used for the chemistry andfive millimetres for the haematology and the luminescence. Thehaematological examinations took place immediately after drawing thesamples. Erythrocytes, haemoglobin, mean haemoglobin concentration, meanhaemoglobin content, leukocytes and lymphocytes were measured. Thechemical analysis consisted of iron, total cholesterol, HDL cholesteroland LDL cholesterol.The results of erythrocyte, haemoglobin, haematocrit and leukocytedeterminations were at the "lower limits of normal" in those testedfollowing the eating of the microwaved samples."These results show anaemic tendencies. The situation became even morepronounced during the second month of the study," Hertel added. "And withthose decreasing values, there was a corresponding increase ofcholesterol values."Hertel admits that stress factors, from getting punctured for the bloodsamples so often each day, for example, cannot be ruled out, but theestablished baseline for each individual became the "zero values" marker,and only changes from the zero values were statistically determined.With only one round of test substances completed, the different effectsbetween conventionally prepared food and microwaved food weremarginal-although noticed as definite "tendencies" . As the testcontinued, the differences in the blood markers became "statisticallysignificant" . The changes are generally considered to be signs of stresson the body. For example, erythrocytes tended to increase after eatingvegetables from the microwave oven. Haemoglobin and both of the meanconcentration and content haemoglobin markers also tended to decreasesignificantly after eating the microwaved substances.

LEUKOCYTOSIS"Leukocytosis, " Hertel explained, "which cannot be accounted for bynormal daily deviations such as following the intake of food, is takenseriously by haematologists. Leukocyte response is especially sensitiveto stress. They are often signs of pathogenic effects on the livingsystem, such as poisoning and cell damage. The increase of leukocyteswith the microwaved foods was more pronounced than with all the othervariants. It appears that these marked increases were caused entirely byingesting the microwaved substances."The cholesterol markers were very interesting, Hertel stressed:"Common scientific belief states that cholesterol values usually alterslowly over longer periods of time. In this study, the markers increasedrapidly after the consumption of the microwaved vegetables. However, withmilk, the cholesterol values remained the same and even decreased withthe raw milk significantly. "Hertel believes his study tends to confirm newer scientific data thatsuggest cholesterol may rapidly increase in the blood secondary to acutestress. "Also," he added, "blood cholesterol levels are less influencedby cholesterol content of food than by stress factors. Suchstress-causing factors can apparently consist of foods which containvirtually no cholesterol- the microwaved vegetables."It is plain to see that this individually financed and conducted studyhas enough meat in it to make anyone with a modicum of common sense situp and take notice. Food from the microwave oven caused abnormal changes,representing stress, to occur in the blood of all the test individuals.Biological individuality, a key variable that makes a mockery of manyallegedly scientific studies, was well accounted for by the establishedbaselines.So, how has the brilliant world of modern technology, medicine and'protect the public' government reacted to this impressive effort?

A GAG ORDERAs soon as Hertel and Blanc announced their results, the hammer ofauthority slammed down on them. A powerful trade organisation, the SwissAssociation of Dealers for Electroapparatuses for Households andIndustry, known simply as FEA, struck swiftly. They forced the Presidentof the Court of Seftigen, Kanton Bern, to issue a 'gag order' againstHertel and Blanc. The attack was so ferocious that Blanc quickly recantedhis support-but it was too late. He had already put into writing hisviews on the validity of the studies where he concurred with the opinionthat microwaved food caused the blood abnormalities.Hertel stood his ground, and today is steadfastly demanding his rights toa trial. Preliminary hearings on the matter have been appealed to highercourts, and it's quite obvious the powers that be do not want a 'showtrial' to erupt on this issue.In March 1993, the court handed down this decision based upon thecomplaint of the FEA:"Consideration.1. Request from the plaintiff (FEA) to prohibit the defendant (Dr Ing.Hans Hertel) from declaring that food prepared in the microwave ovenshall be dangerous to health and lead to changes in the blood ofconsumers, giving reference to pathologic troubles as also indicative forthe beginning of a cancerous process. The defendant shall be prohibitedfrom repeating such a statement in publications and in public talks bypunishment laid down in the law.2. The jurisdiction of the judge is given according to law.3. The active legitimacy of the plaintiff is given according to the law.4. The passive legitimacy of the defendant is given by the fact that heis the author of the polemic [published study] in question, especiallysince the present new and revised law allows to exclude the necessity ofa competitive situation, therefore delinquents may also be persons whoare not co-competitors, but may damage the competing position of othersby mere declarations.[Apparently, Swiss corporations have lobbied in a law that nails"delinquents" who disparage products and might do damage to commerce bysuch remarks. So far, the US Constitution still preserves freedom of thepress.]5. Considering the relevant situation it is referred to threepublications: the public renunciation [sic] of the so-called co-authorProfessor Bernard Blanc, the expertise of Professor Teuber [expertwitness from the FEA] about the above-mentioned publication, the opinionof the public health authorities with regard to the present stage ofresearch with microwave ovens as well as to repeated statements from theside of the defendant about the danger of such ovens.6. It is not considered of importance whether or not the polemic of thedefendant meets the approval of the public, because all that is necessaryis that a possibility exists that such a statement could find approvalwith people not being experts themselves. Also, advertising involvingfear is not allowed and is always disqualified by the law. The necessityfor a fast interference is in no case more advised than in the processesof competition. Basically, the defendant has the right to defend himselfagainst such accusations. This right, however, can be denied in cases ofpressing danger with regard to impairing the rights of the plaintiff whenthis is requested.

Conclusion.On grounds of this pending request of the plaintiff, the court arrives atthe conclusion that because of special presuppositions as in this case, adefinite disadvantage for the plaintiff does exist, which may not easilybe repaired, and therefore must be considered to be of immediate danger.The case thus warrants the request of the plaintiff to be justified, evenwithout hearing the defendant. Also, because it is not known when thedefendant will bring further statements into the public.The judge is also of the opinion that because the publications are madeup to appear as scientific, and therefore especially reliable-looking,they may cause additional bad disadvantages. It must be added that theredoes obviously not exist a just reason for this publication because thereis no public interest for pseudo-scientific unproved declarations.Finally, these ordered measures do not prove to be disproportionate.The defendant is prohibited, under punishment of up to F5,000, or up toone year in prison, to declare that food prepared in microwave ovens isdangerous to health and leads to pathologic troubles as also indicativefor the beginning of a cancerous process.The plaintiff pays the costs.(Signed) President of the Court of Seftigen Kraemer."If you cannot imagine this kind of decision coming from a court in theUnited States, you have not been paying attention to the advances ofadministrative law.Hertel defied the court and has loudly demanded a fair hearing on thetruth of his claims. The court has continued to delay, dodge, appeal andavoid any media-catching confrontation. As of this writing, Hans is stillwaiting for a hearing with media coverage-and he's still talking andpublishing his findings."They have not been able to intimidate me into silence, and I will notaccept their conditions," Hertel declared. "I have appeared at largeseminars in Germany, and the study results have been well-received. Also,I think the authorities are aware that scientists at Ciba-Geigy [theworld's largest pharmaceutical company, headquartered in Switzerland]have vowed to support me in court."As those powerful special interests in Switzerland who desire to sellmicrowave ovens by the millions continued to suppress open debate on thisvital issue for modern civilisation, new microwave developments blossomedin the United States.

INFANT DANGERIn the journal Pediatrics (vol. 89, no. 4, April 1992), there appeared anarticle titled, "Effects of Microwave Radiation on Anti-infective Factorsin Human Milk". Richard Quan, M.D. from Dallas, Texas, was the lead nameof the study team. John A. Kerner, M.D., from Stanford University, wasalso on the research team, and he was quoted in a summary article on theresearch that appeared in the 25 April 1992 issue of Science News. To getthe full flavour of what may lie ahead for microwaving, here is thatsummary article:"Women who work outside the home can express and store breast milk forfeedings when they are away. But parents and caregivers should be carefulhow they warm this milk. A new study shows that microwaving humanmilk-even at a low setting-can destroy some of its importantdisease-fighting capabilities."Breast milk can be refrigerated safely for a few days or frozen for upto a month; however, studies have shown that heating the milk well abovebody temperature- 37° C -- can break down not only its antibodies toinfectious agents, but also its lysozymes or bacteria-digesting enzymes.So, when paediatrician John A. Kerner, Jr, witnessed neonatal nursesroutinely thawing or reheating breast milk with the microwave oven intheir lounge, he became concerned."In the April 1992 issue of Pediatrics (Part I), he and his StanfordUniversity co-workers reported finding that unheated breast milk that wasmicrowaved lost lysozyme activity, antibodies and fostered the growth ofmore potentially pathogenic bacteria. Milk heated at a high setting (72degrees Celsius to 98 degrees C) lost 96 per cent of its immunoglobulin- Aantibodies, agents that fend off invading microbes."What really surprised him, Kerner said, was finding some loss ofanti-infective properties in the milk microwaved at a low setting-and toa mean of just 33.5 degrees C. Adverse changes at such low temperaturessuggest 'microwaving itself may in fact cause some injury to the milkabove and beyond the heating'."But Randall M. Goldblum of the University of Texas Medical Branch inGalveston disagrees, saying: 'I don't see any compelling evidence thatthe microwaves did any harm. It was the heating.' Lysozyme and antibodydegradation in the coolest samples may simply reflect the development ofsmall hot spots-potentially 60 degrees C or above-during microwaving,noted Madeleine Sigman-Grant of Pennsylvania State University, UniversityPark. And that's to be expected, she said, because microwave heating isinherently uneven-and quite unpredictable when volumes less than fourmillilitres are involved, as was the case in the Kerner's study.

"Goldblum considers use of a microwave to thaw milk an especially badidea, since it is likely to boil some of the milk before all has evenliquefied. Stanford University Medical Center no longer microwaves breastmilk, Kerner notes. And that's appropriate, Sigman-Grant believes,because of the small volumes of milk that hospitals typically servenewborns-especially premature infants."

CHASING A STORYJournalist Tom Valentine, after chasing this story, found it interestingthat 'scientists' have so many 'beliefs' to express rather than provefact. Yet facts eventually snuff out credential-based conjecture.Researcher Quan, in a phone interview, said that he believed the resultsof research so far warranted further detailed study of the effects ofmicrowave cooking on nutrients. The summary sentence in an abstract ofthe research paper is very clear:"Microwaving appears to be contra-indicated at high temperatures, andquestions regarding its safety exist even at low temperatures. "The final statement of the study conclusion reads:"This preliminary study suggests that microwaving human milk could bedetrimental. Further studies are needed to determine whether and howmicrowaving could safely be done." Unfortunately, further studies are notscheduled at this time.If there are so many indications that the effects of microwaves on foodscan degrade the foods far above the known breakdowns of standard cooking,is it not reasonable to conduct exhaustive studies on living, breathinghuman beings to determine if it's possible that eating microwaved foodscontinuously, as many people do, can be significantly detrimental toindividual health?If you wanted to introduce a herbal supplement into the Americanmainstream and make any health claims for it, you would be subjected toexhaustive documentation and costly research. Yet the microwave-ovenindustry had only to prove that the dangerous microwaves could, indeed,be contained within the oven and not escape into the surrounding areawhere the radiation could do damage to people. The industry must admitthat some microwaves escape even in the best-made ovens. So far, not onethought has been given by the industry to the possibility that thenutrients could be so altered as to be deleterious to health.Well, this makes sense in a land that encourages farmers to poison cropsand soils with massive amounts of synthesised chemicals, and encouragesfood processors to use additives that enhance shelf-life of foodsregardless of the potential for degrading the health of the consumer.How many hundreds of pounds of microwaved food per capita is consumed inAmerica each year?Are we going to continue to take it from established authority, withoutquestion, on the premise that they know best?

2) Follow-up on Hertel excerpted from:

Cookedhttp://www3.bc.sympatico.ca/Willthomas/invest/investcooked.htm

by William Thomas

Published in Alive magazine

... [Hertel] stuck by his findings. In an ironically confirmingcommentary on his findings, Hertel was forbidden by a Swiss court frompublicly "declaring that food prepared in microwave ovens shall bedangerous to health and lead to changes in the blood of consumers, givingreference to pathologic troubles as also indicative for the beginning ofa cancerous process."

The unrepentant Hertel continued giving seminars in Germany, where hesays his study results "have been well-received. " In August, 1998, thecourt decision was reversed when the European Court of Human Rights atStrasbourg ruled that the earlier Swiss "gag order" forbidding theBernese scientist from declaring that microwave ovens pose human healthrisks contravened Hertel's right to freedom of expression. The Euro courtordered Switzerland [to pay] F-40,000 in compensation for Hertel's legalcosts in a decision hailed by Nexus magazine as "an end to judicial censorship of persons drawing attention to the health hazards of certainproducts."

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Publisher - Wellthy Choices website and online magazine, health coach (40+ years!), Optimal Breathing Development Specialist(OBDS, photographer since I was 9, newspaper and magazine writer, photographer, retired high-steel ironworker/welder (25 years!),and MUCH more... OK so I am over 60 or I could not have accomplished so MANY things!